Met Life Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends

May 14, 2012

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Benefits Drive Employee Satisfaction, Loyalty

Employee loyalty is at a seven-year low, according to MetLife’s 10th Annual Study of Benefits Trends, released last week. The study also reaffirms the strong connection between employee benefits satisfaction and job satisfaction, while employees who are dissatisfied with their benefits are more likely to “want to work elsewhere.”

Other studies show that the better employees understand their benefits, the more they value them.

These conclusions are a mandate for effective, targeted benefits communications. Are you ready with a communication strategy that will engage, educate and convey the value of your benefits program to your workforce?

Here are a few ideas to consider:

Know Your Audience
Another finding from the MetLife study is that employers are “still not seeing benefits through employee eyes.” What benefits are most important to your workforce? Are there significant differences in priorities by age group or other demographic? What form of communication works best for them? How can you create a dialog, rather than one-way communication?

Keep It Coming
Communicating once a year during open enrollment is just not enough to drive engagement. If you have a robust wellness program, you already know this. Communicating throughout the year is critical to making benefits relevant, keeping them top of mind and generating appreciation of the benefits program.

Get Employees Involved
There’s nothing like having some “skin in the game” to drive engagement. There are many ways to involved employees in communications and even in the direction your benefits program may take. Focus groups, employee committees, contests and social media channels are just a few.

Plan Now!
Now is the time to start communication planning for 2013. This should be a tandem effort alongside program design. Get your research done now so that it can influence your open enrollment process and get your ducks in order for a year of strategic, creative communication—that will help build employee loyalty and engagement.

Custom Communications—The Unique Difference

Your employees are key to your success. And now, you can partner with Custom Communications to help maximize your investment in them. With our effective communications and outsourcing strategies, you can concentrate on your core business objectives.